We're back at work! Dark Current Waves annual planning!

"Your Anyong Bot is online—reach out anytime!" Text by 36Kr Research Institute

Dear readers of Anyong:

Happy Lunar New Year!

This entire spring of 2026, the venture capital world has been unusually busy: some of you may be raising shrimp or attending lobster events; some buried in research, writing code; some searching for teammates to fight alongside; or perhaps constantly jumping between various AI apps... This is the spring when AI truly blooms, and Anyong Waves' 2026 annual survey plan is now officially announced!

Over the past year of 2025, we witnessed AI break through from silent code in laboratories to become the dominant force reshaping industrial foundations. Anyong published 96 articles, continuously tracking primary market events, documenting the strong entry of state-owned and corporate investors, and accompanying AI through every critical milestone from "proof of concept" to "commercial闭环."

This year, we will continue tracking what's happening and the newly emerging players. As our slogan goes: "Where the money flows, where people rise and fall." We look for people — scientists stepping into entrepreneurship; corporate investment institutions gradually surfacing; and young founders from diverse fields. We also follow the money — the code of industrial transformation behind capital; structural shifts in technology deployment; market liquidity and hot sectors.

Below is our annual survey plan. What's different from previous years: while maintaining our institutional focus on core groups — GPs (financial/corporate investment institutions), LPs, FAs, investors — we are adding a complete matrix of enterprise-side surveys.

Eight major survey categories in total, to comprehensively and authentically reflect the annual landscape of "China's equity investment industry."

Figure 1: 2026 Institutional Ranking Plan

Figure 2: 2026 Enterprise Ranking Plan

To base our rankings on detailed institutional data and conduct scientific, quantifiable analysis, the "36Kr China Equity Investment Market Online Survey System" has now entered its third year of operation. Institutional partners wishing to participate in the 2026 rankings can register an account and submit applications for relevant awards by visiting https://touzi.36kr.com/.

Enterprise partners can follow the Anyong Waves & 36Kr WeChat official accounts for ranking and summit registration channels — subsequent registration, selection, and event information will be published there first.

In the new year, we will focus on elevating survey quality, using data as our foundation to engage in more authentic, deeper conversations with you, unearthing the industrial essence behind capital, and continuously producing more valuable, refined research. We will also stay attuned to the times, maintaining sharpness between trends and reality, and continuously outputting warm, deep, and forward-looking judgments and content.

And two offline summits — the culmination of our research, and the venues where we meet:

Part 01

WAVES New Wave Summit Time: Early June — Midsummer

Venue: TBD

WAVES New Wave gathers young people who are changing the world. What WAVES seeks to build is precisely this kind of "experimental field." We strip away the dreariness of hotel ballrooms, breaking down the barriers between speaker seats and audience rows. When capital, technology, and ambition collide at high velocity within a specific space, that thing called "the future" truly emerges.

Every wave begins with a group of young people who "refuse to play by the rules." On WAVES' coordinate axis, the scale always points to minds under 36.

They may no longer be obsessed with cash-burning games, but they harbor an almost偏执狂热 for "reconstructing physical infrastructure." They don't believe in the authority of experience — only in the logic of code and the vitality of products. The steering wheel of the primary market is shifting toward this "new generation of venture capital players." We don't define young people; we simply stand on their side.

And this year! Four brand-new segments. The "Emergence Main Stage" — refreshing your认知, innovatively roaming the depths of ideas; the "Wisdom Youth Challenge" — validating capabilities, defining the co-evolution of AI and humanity through实战; the "One-Time AI Company" — extreme flash mob, witnessing business transformation firsthand; the "Gen Z Comedy Night" — capturing intergenerational resonance through laughter with post-00s and post-10s...

This June, let's plunge together into this never-ending midsummer of venture capital.

Part 02

Industrial Future Summit Time: September — Golden Autumn

Venue: TBD

September is when we witness the deep integration of industry and investment. With "industrial capital," witness the deep integration of technology and corporate investment forces; in "Hard Tech Deep Cultivation," explore the leap from laboratory logic to industrial chain value; seek out "New Paradigms of Corporate Investment," anchoring to the underlying code of实业 in the era of RMB funds; traverse "The Great Cycle Narrative," documenting the real rises and falls of China's venture capital market amid shifting tides...

This September, let's dive together into this deep sea of industry — where power and certainty reside.

Best regards — stay in touch!

Ranking inquiries: 36krmediair@36kr.com Business/summit partnerships: miteng@36kr.com

Where the money flows, where people rise and fall